


Oceans Of Love

by TokyoTeddyWolf



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien beaches, Lance worries about his bond with Blue, Langst, Mama Blue Lion, Pidge and Lance brotp, Protective Blue Lion, She knocks his fears right out of the fecking park, Space fam - Freeform, Worried Space Dad Shiro, team as a family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-10 22:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,222
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10448496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TokyoTeddyWolf/pseuds/TokyoTeddyWolf
Summary: “Blue, is our bond really all that strong?”In which Lance doubts himself, and a midnight swim with his favorite girl might be just what he needed to wash away the fears.





	1. Midnight Swimming

Lance woke up to tangled sheets and dim lights from the floor of his room. He reached up and shakily wiped at the liquid staining his cheeks, unsure as to why he’d been crying. Maybe it was because Keith and Hunk would probably have died earlier today if it hadn’t been for Yellow and Red appearing out of nowhere to shield their Paladins from the Galran bomb trap.

Another distress signal gone wrong, another night spent in the healing pods. Lance had a few cuts and scrapes himself, like the bandage on his cheek and the gauze wrapped over a particularly large slash to the back of his left arm. Shiro had ordered him to lay off on piloting Blue around for a little while, just to be safe.

But, it still got him thinking. Red was impulsive, so she’d always rush to Keith’s aid. That’s how their bond worked. But Yellow doing something like that? Lance knew Hunk and his Lion were pretty close, having spent most of their time together testing out how that cool new armor worked, or making sure that the repairs had gone well.

Lance sat up and sighed, slowly untangling himself from the white sheets of his bed. Would… would Blue ever do that? Pull him out of danger like the other Lions did? Protect him if he was far away? Would she actually do any of that for him? He remembered when Keith was asking about Blue, how he had responded to the Red Paladin with the statement that he and Blue were ‘very happy together’ but to be honest, he’d been bluffing.

He didn’t know how Blue actually felt about him outside of a few happy purrs during missions or growls when he got hurt, since he’d never thought about talking to her. He decided to go down and ask her himself, since these thoughts would never let him sleep anyways.

Slipping out of his room and padding down the hallways, he made sure to stay as quiet as possible during his ‘late night’ trip, since out here, in space, there was no night and day, just an endless void of distant stars and cold, empty distance.

Allura and Coran had set up an Earth time system for the Paladins, simulating daytime and nighttime, so Lance guessed it was about midnight for the moment. Lucky him, Shiro wasn’t up tonight, stalking the halls after a nightmare. _Good_ , Lance thought, _he deserves some proper sleep._

He managed to get to Blue’s Hangar without disturbing anyone, and smiled softly as he gazed up at his gorgeous girl.

“Hey, Beautiful. Mind if we talk? I haven’t been paying much attention to you lately…” He admitted, a little shamefully.

A soft purr rumbled through his mind as Blue lowered her head and opened her jaw, welcoming him inside. He sighed and ran his hands gently along the panels lining the cockpit, settling himself in the pilot chair and folding his legs under him in a criss-cross position, bowing his head as he thought of what to say. Blue encouraged him with a soft rumble of patience, merely waiting, trusting in him to find the words he needed to say.

“Blue… is… is our bond… is it really all that strong?” Lance managed weakly, squeezing his eyes shut, fighting back the stinging in the corners of his eyes. Blue gave him a concerned, questioning growl, wanting him to clarify the statement. Lance inhaled, then exhaled, shuddering.

“It’s just- I don’t know if we’ll ever be as close as the other guys and their Lions. I mean, the Olkari helped Pidge and Green get super close and unlock that plant cannon, and Shiro told us about how Black had taken him to some weird pocket dimension where he fought Zarkon over Black’s connection and won because Black chose him over Zarkon. Not to mention Red is like Keith’s overprotective Mom, and Hunk and Yellow are always talking to each other and being all best friends for life. But, you and me? I know I told Keith that we were happy together, but I don’t know if I was bluffing then. You’ve never told me how you felt. I mean, yeah, I guess you chose me over everyone else back when we first met, but, I can’t help but think that you were just doing it to get home and I was the best shot to get there. I mean, you could replace me and you wouldn’t mind. That’s- That’s just what keeps going through my head.” Lance blurted out, the words overflowing in a rush of worries and doubts and fears, and Blue knew she had to do something to convince him that she cared about him more than he knew.

So, she activated her body and ordered the Castle to unlock the hangar door. “B-Blue? What are you doing?!?” Lance panicked, gripping the seat. She sent him a soothing purr, a silent but calming phrase hidden within, ‘everything will be alright, just trust me’, and took off into the endless night with her precious Paladin.

Her scanners picked up a perfect planet for what she was planning, and so she headed straight for it. A warm, tropical place that was nearly pure water with a few islands scattered about the surface, with soft, fine sand colored a strange golden white color, black grains mixed in as well. It looked very similar to Earth’s beaches, except the planet was uninhabited and the water was a silvery blue instead of dark blueish green. The sky was pink, too, and Pidge probably would have been fascinated by the strange color combination.

Blue dove into the ocean without hesitation, already feeling stronger as her element’s Quintessence mingled with her core’s, empowering her and allowing her to move unlike before.

“Blue, what’s going on? Why are we here?” Lance asked, surprised. “I mean, isn’t the sudden taking off without warning Red’s thing?” He joked nervously as they sank deeper into the silvery blue sea, the clean water steadily growing darker as they descended past where the planet’s sun could reach.

 _“You wished to talk, My Paladin, so I took us to a place where we could speak without interruption.”_ Blue rumbled calmly, and if she could she would have smiled at the startled yelp her precious Paladin emitted as he realized the words were from her. Lance was floored by this sudden ability.

“Since when can you guys actually talk?!? Can the other Lions do this?” He squawked, pulling his legs up onto the pilot seat, resting his chin between his knees and gazing up at the ceiling of the cockpit in awe, a little less afraid now that he could actually hear Blue’s voice, which reminded him of his mother, all soft and soothing like a snowy morning.

 _“I am able to speak to you now as we are encased in my element, and as such, the Quintessence of the ocean here allows our mental connection to become nearly perfect, and strong enough to hold a connection for words to flow across. If we weren’t as well bonded as we are now, not even the water could allow this. And no, the other Lions and their Paladins have not reached this level yet, though Black says Shiro is almost there. If also encased in their element, however, perhaps Keith and Red, or Green and Pidge would be able to communicate verbally as well. They shall discover that on their own time.”_ Blue explained, settling down on the seafloor and swishing her tail back and forth slowly as her outer lights lit up the area around her, a faint glow that glinted off of white and lilac coral, and a few patches of pretty scarlet seaweed with black flowers that reminded her of Earth lilies.

Lance blinked, confused. “So, if the others are supposed to figure this out on their own, why didn’t you let me do the same?” He asked, more doubts bubbling up. Did she not think he could’ve done it on his own? Blue sighed in his mind, almost sad.

 _“Because I wanted to let you know that I care about you very much, my Paladin. More than you realize. I chose you because your energy matched mine, almost perfectly. You and I are a lot more alike than you would first think. Our bond is not weak, no matter what you may believe. You are mine, and I will fight to keep you. I may be the Blue Lion, but just like Red or Black I will never accept another pilot who isn’t you unless you are no longer there to fly me ever again.”_ Blue growled at the thought, tail lashing as she would never let that happen, not on her watch. She settled back down, however, before picking up her train of thought again.

 _“The reason I do not rush in to take you away from danger is because I trust you to keep yourself safe in my place. You ask why Red is always going after Keith when he gets injured and I do not for you, but the answer is simple. Keith is reckless, always charging in headfirst and thinking about his actions later. Red is just as impulsive, and very protective of her chosen Paladin. Acting before thinking will always lead to injury.”_ Blue hummed, stretching her legs out in front of her like a house cat. Lance snickered into his arms which he’d folded over his knees, humor pushing the anxiety down. It was true, Keith always did stab first and ask questions later.

 _“But you do not do such things. You are extremely intelligent, My Paladin. More than you or the others give you credit for. You have sharp eyes, able to see things others cannot, and plan accordingly. I believe in your ability to keep yourself from getting injured on missions, and thus I see no need to chase after you like a troublesome cub.”_ Blue purred again, happy that Lance seemed to take the words to heart, and felt his mood lighten.

“I never thought of it that way. Thanks, Blue. I feel a lot better now.” Lance sighed, leaning his head back against the chair and smiling.

 _“Anything for you, My Lance. I will always be here for you whenever you need me, trust me on that.”_ Blue said soothingly, getting to her feet and beginning to swim back up to the surface.

“Of course I trust you.” Lance murmured sleepily. “As if I could ever distrust you, Beautiful…”

Blue broke the surface of the ocean, swimming over to one of the larger islands and padded onto the sand to dry, not quite ready to go back to the Castle. The planet’s sun was beginning to set, pink fading to deep blue and purple.

“Hey, Blue? Can you do the look through my eyes thing and show me the ocean and the beach real quick? I… I wanna see the sunset. Like, really see it, the way you do. We haven’t done that in a while…” Lance yawned, exhaustion finally creeping into his body.

Blue hummed and connected her eyes to his, turning to face the sun setting over the sea, darkening blue waves lapping at the sandy gold, black and white beach that almost seemed to shimmer in the fading sunlight. Lance smiled, already drifting off.

Lance fell asleep to the sight and sounds of the beach, and Blue’s continued purring.


	2. Epilogue~ Blue Isn't The Only One Who Cares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Blue is amused, Space Dad and co. are worried af, and Lance is still half-asleep. Also, beach party! :D

Lance woke up to the sound of Blue’s amused purring. Yawning, he stretched and blearily looked around. Oh, right, he was in Blue’s cockpit on a weird alien beach, and they had talked, and she’d told him all those things…

But there was a commotion out on the beach. It sounded a lot like… roaring? But it wasn’t coming from Blue, so what was making that noise? It was steadily growing louder, actually. He mentally reached out for the bond between him and his pretty girl, and the feeling of gentle affection and amusement filled him.

“Wha- Wha’s goin’ on? Blue, wha’s that noise?” He whined, still slightly half asleep.

The purring increased, and Blue activated her dashboard’s display, turning her head up to look through her particle barrier to show him that the Castle Of Lions was descending into the planet’s atmosphere, as well as the faint figures of the other Lions steadily getting closer to their location.

“Huh? Isn’t that the Castle? What’s it doing here? What time is it anyways?” Lance muttered confusedly, leaning closer and rubbing his eyes clear to see the screen better. He felt the ground shake a little bit as the other Lions landed on the beach in front of Blue, all of them bending down to let their respective Paladin out onto the beach.

Lance blinked, startled, because they weren’t in Paladin armor like usual whenever they piloted their Lions. They were all in pajamas! Well, more like sleep clothes, since they were more like the kind of clothes you’d wear on a lazy day around the house. They’d gotten the garments from Allura and Coran’s closets, since nobody wanted to sleep in their Earth clothes every night.

Shiro was wearing a large black t-shirt and black sweatpants, or at least the Altean equivalent to sweatpants, since cotton wasn’t a thing on Altea, apparently. His hair was still sleep ruffled, and he looked concerned, looking up at Blue and seemingly contemplating whether or not he should speak up.

Pidge was drowning in her night shirt that Allura had let her have, so it was more like a nightgown on the tiny Green Paladin. Lance remembered helping to stitch that pale green shirt into a better fit for his friend, so that it didn’t slip off of Pidge’s shoulders while she slept. She kept bouncing on the balls of her feet, looking just as worried as Shiro, and she flapped her sleeves wildly as she shouted up at Lance in Shiro’s place. Keith and Hunk looked like they were fresh out of the pods, though they’d had enough sense to pull on some clothes at least.

Everyone looked worried out of their minds. Why were they… Oh. Riiiiiiight. He and Blue had disappeared in the middle of the night, and had been missing since… Lance checked the little clock in the corner of the screen. Oh sweet Jesus it was already half past noon?!? No wonder they were so tense out there. He scrambled out of his seat, tumbling to the ground and pushing himself back up. He rolled his large blue sleeves away from his hands and tugged his blue knee-length shorts back up from where they’d slipped down during his fall.

“Blue, open the door and let the barrier down please!” He called, gripping the wall as his beautiful kitty obeyed the order.

He slid down the ramp, bare toes touching the sand, and he’d barely taken a step forward when he was tackled to the ground by a familiar, tiny pale green and copper blur.

“Gah! Pidge!” Lance yelped, only for two very ticked off golden brown eyes to lock onto his own ocean blues and judge him within an inch of his life.

“Lance, what the _hell_ , dude! Allura woke us up this morning and told us that Blue wasn’t in her hangar and that she couldn’t find you through her connection with the Lions! We were so worried that something was wrong!” Pidge screeched, grabbing him by the collar from her spot on his stomach and shaking him back and forth until he was dizzy. She’d been terrified that she’d lost another brother, so she had a damn right to be angry with him after scaring her like this.

“Yeah, man. Why’d you disappear on us like that? We almost thought you’d gone on a midnight flight and accidentally been taken by the Galra, or worse.” Keith huffed out, folding his arms over his chest and trying to keep his face from showing the fear he’d felt when Allura had shakily told them that she couldn’t feel where the Blue Lion was. He’d lost Shiro to those purple bastards once, and he wasn’t going to lose another friend to them again. The relief that had flooded the room, when Coran had found a signal on a recently formed oceanic planet, had nearly made Keith’s knees give out.

Shiro pulled Lance to his feet, not attempting to remove the four armed, Pidge shaped octopus from around the Blue Paladin’s waist. Shiro had also been frightened by Lance’s vanishing act. He never thought the Castle could be so quiet when Lance wasn’t there, talking up a storm and goofing around, trying to keep them smiling even under all the stress of being in a war. Breakfast and lunch had been so quiet, and the mood was heavy with worry over their friend.

They’d all abandoned eating when Allura called them and said that Blue had given her a signal at last, and that they were now on their way to her location.

“Did something happen last night, Lance?” He asked, every inch the concerned Space Dad the others like to joke about. Hell, Lance had been the first to call him that.

Lance opened his mouth to attempt a reply, but got swept up into a giant bear hug from Hunk.

“Man I was scared, buddy! I woke up and got out of the pod and you weren’t there! Everyone was freaking out about where you’d gone off to! Not even the Lions knew where you went!” The large Yellow Paladin babbled, squeezing both Lance and Pidge in his arms. Lance looked like he was struggling to breathe a little, actually.

“Alright, Hunk. Put him down, I think we all deserve an explanation and some answers.” Shiro said, using the ‘down boy’ motion with his hands to convey the message along. Hunk set the poor Cuban boy down and stepped back, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Pidge, you too. I’m pretty sure he needs his lungs to breathe.” Shiro said calmly, raising an eyebrow at the smallest Paladin. Pidge grumbled, but let go as Keith moved over to stand next to Shiro.

Lance inhaled deeply, holding it in before exhaling in a loud sigh. “Oh man, feels good to have some air again.” He joked, getting a mouth twitch from Shiro, a fond smile from Hunk, an eyeroll from Pidge and a chuckle from Keith.

“Well, actually, I didn’t do anything. Blue brought me here. I, uh, kinda had a bad dream I don’t remember, so I went down to talk to Blue for a little bit. I also kind of said that I didn’t believe in the strength of our bond a little?” Blue rumbled confirmation from above, shuffling into a lying down position so that all of the Paladins were in between her paws and shielded from the sun under her head.

“Well, she didn’t like that, so she locked me in the cockpit and flew out into space without me touching any of her controls. I didn’t even know she could do that, but Blue’s just full of surprises, right Beautiful?” Lance continued, glancing up as his Lion purred happily.

“We went for a little swim in the ocean, and the energy of the water allowed her to actually talk to me with words! It was really cool, not to mention she sounds a lot like my Mom when she speaks.” Lance grinned at the shocked look on his team’s faces. “She told me a lot of stuff about our bond, and how much she cared. Oh, she also said that the other Lions can talk too, you just have to have a strong enough bond. Plus something else, but that’s for you to figure out on your own. No spoilers~!” He teased as his friends all turned to look at their Lions in awe. “After that though, I think I fell asleep watching the sunset. It was really pretty…”

“Wait, so you’re saying the Lions can talk? In actual words?” Pidge yelped, looking quite shocked by this news.

“Yeah. Blue told me that she could speak because we were in her element and the energy from it, combined with our super strong bond, allowed our mental connection to become strong enough to hold her words, or something along those lines.” Lance explained, proud of the fact that he’d heard his Lion’s voice first. Blue rumbled confirmation and the other Lions must have done the same, because nobody was calling bullshit on him.

“He speaks the truth, everyone. In the past, the original Paladins had bonded so strongly to their Lions that they were able to communicate with words, images and emotions. Accomplishing this is something you should take pride in, Lance.” Allura had come out of nowhere, though the Castle had landed in the ocean a little while ago during Lance’s explanation.

Her sudden appearance made even Shiro jump, though less noticeable from Hunk’s yelp or Pidge’s fluffed out hair. Lance beamed at the soft smile on Allura’s face, Blue filling their bond with the feeling of pride for him.

Hunk clapped his hands suddenly. “Oh! I know! We should celebrate this! I mean, it’s a big milestone for your Lion to speak to you, right? We should have a party! A beach party!” He exclaimed, eyes sparkling with ideas for party food. Lance chuckled and patted his friend on the back.

“Totally! But only if we throw a party for everyone else when they reach the words level.” He chimed in, Keith raising an eyebrow.

“Words level? Is that what you’re actually calling it?” The Red Paladin blinked when Lance whirled on him.

“Well, yeah! Don’t question my naming abilities, Mullet. Me and Blue are at the words level and you and Red aren’t, which makes me cooler than you~!” The Cuban teen taunted good naturedly while Hunk was chatting with Allura about having a party on the beach. This instigated a round of bantering over who had the best Lion, which eventually was stopped by Shiro as Allura was allowing them to have a party to relax for the day.

A few hours later, the party had been set up and everyone was enjoying the beach. Lance laughed as he kicked up a wave of water at Keith and Pidge, Keith hissing and Pidge shouting colorful curse words as her glasses got splattered with clear silvery droplets. Keith tackled Lance into the shallows, both boys wrestling around until Pidge joined in, screeching revenge as she poured a bucket (who knows where she got _that_ from-) of cold water on both of them. She regretted this instantly when both Keith and Lance turned on her and tickled her to near tears.

Shiro was enjoying a nap on the sand, sleeping too deeply to notice Hunk carefully burying him with Allura’s help. Coran was tending to the food, a bunch of alien beef Hunk had brought after another space mall trip a few weeks ago. It had been a farmers market kind of mall, and Hunk had been ecstatic about it. So he’d offered up the treats for the party.

The Lions were all relaxing in the sun too, almost like cats on Earth did when napping in a sunny spot. Blue was stretched out on her side, her tail and paws trailing in the water, sending happy and cheerfully satisfied vibes to her precious Paladin.

Red, funnily enough, was far away from the water, content in the driest, sunniest spot that was admittedly a little too hot for the rest of the Lions. Black and Green were chilling under a shady spot near some alien palm trees on a separate island, only a short Lion walk from the island where the party was being held.

The palm trees had violet trunks, and golden leaves with pale blue spots that were nearly white, and the leaves were big enough to cover a van back on Earth. Green was fascinated by the plant life, and kept scanning everything while Black merely enjoyed the warm sand and the cool shade under the trees. Yellow had managed to bury herself into the sand on another, smaller, separate island near the Castle. The sand would be hell to clean from her joints later, but for now she was enjoying the warm earth on her metal.

Soaking wet, covered in fine sand grit, and exhausted from running around in the sun, the Paladins wrapped up the party as the sun went down. Shiro, Pidge and Keith were actually tanned somehow, and Lance had laughed at their horrified faces. That night, after a long shower and a vigorous spa ritual to clean sand from his hair and oil from his face, Lance flopped down onto his bed and stared at the ceiling of his room, still smiling.

Suffice to say that Lance was the happiest he’d been in months, and it was all thanks to an impromptu midnight swim with his favorite beauty. That night after the party, was the best sleep he had since he’d left home. The feeling of pure love and trust accompanied him in his dreams, and he danced in the stars as free and weightless as a bird.

_“Sleep well, My precious Lance.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> // aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that’s a wrap! Holy shit, this entire thing is over 4000 words! The epilogue is exactly 2,306 words long, not counting the footnote here. I ship Lance X Happiness over all else, and Pidge and Lance are my brotp, and Keith is not an asshole, and Shiro is a concerned Space Dad, Hunk is a good friend, and Allura is not a total bitch that constantly puts Lance down but is actually nice and will allow little parties for accomplishments because having a reward for a milestone like this is important and she knows this. Also Blue loves her little pilot very much thank you, and she is a proud mama lion and will cut you if you even breathe on Lance wrong. Or freeze you to death. One of the two. Hope you enjoyed this! :)

**Author's Note:**

> //Why do i hurt Lance like this- He's my favorite, why do i do this. Happy epilogue bc i am a total sucker for worried Space Fam Squad :)


End file.
